WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: What Are Sea Cucumbers?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel bomb here with a classic brain Stuff episode

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<v Speaker 1>from the vault. In today's we discussed the extremely weird

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<v Speaker 1>world of the sea cucumber living, being so odd that

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't even title the original episode how does it work?

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<v Speaker 1>But rather what is it? Hey brain Stuff? Lauren vocal

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<v Speaker 1>bomb here. You probably have a favorite sea cucumber and

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<v Speaker 1>don't even know it. There are over one two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>species in the world's oceans, so many that scientists are

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<v Speaker 1>even confused about exactly how many there are, so there's

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<v Speaker 1>probably one you'd like a lot. Some of them are

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<v Speaker 1>decked out with the colors of your favorite sports team.

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<v Speaker 1>Others look like somebody crocheted and oversized zucchini out of

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<v Speaker 1>brown acrylic yarn. Even if you weren't particularly interested in

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<v Speaker 1>a living sea cucumber, you might want to eat a

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<v Speaker 1>dead one, or even take one as medicine. But if

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<v Speaker 1>you don't know, already had to guess, would you bet?

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<v Speaker 1>A se cucumber is an animal or a vegetable. They

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<v Speaker 1>tend to come in tube form, like a sweet potato

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<v Speaker 1>of the sea. They look vegetableish, but they are, in

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<v Speaker 1>fact animals. The thing where we refer to them as

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<v Speaker 1>cucumbers doesn't help. But they're a chinoderms, a phylum of

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<v Speaker 1>marine animals that also includes starfish and sea urchins. Everybody

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<v Speaker 1>in this hylum has what's called pentameral symmetry. They have

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<v Speaker 1>five arms arranged around a center point. Of course, the

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<v Speaker 1>kindest thing you can say about a se cucumber's physique

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<v Speaker 1>is that it looks like a large hogi bun that

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<v Speaker 1>you wouldn't want to eat. But though it more closely

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<v Speaker 1>resembles a slug than a star, the five rows of

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<v Speaker 1>tube feet that extend from its mouth to its anus

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<v Speaker 1>give it the same basic layout as, say, a very

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<v Speaker 1>elongated sea urchin that fell over on its side. Sea

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<v Speaker 1>cucumbers have a different approach to reproduction than we do.

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<v Speaker 1>They are usually born either male or female, but can

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<v Speaker 1>change from one to the other during their lives. They

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<v Speaker 1>communicate with each other by releasing hormone into the water,

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<v Speaker 1>which is very similar to their style of reproduction. They

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<v Speaker 1>expel their gam meats those are the egg and sperm

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<v Speaker 1>cells out into the water column and just assume that

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<v Speaker 1>they'll find each other, just as they assume that their

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<v Speaker 1>friend got the hormone message that they left. Sea cucumbers

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<v Speaker 1>eat tiny animals, particles of algae, and general sea junk

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<v Speaker 1>out of the water using frilly tentacles that between meals

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<v Speaker 1>they keep hidden in their mouths. What they have in

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<v Speaker 1>the way of a brain is a ring of nerve

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<v Speaker 1>cells around their mouth that tells them when it's time

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<v Speaker 1>to eat, burrow into the sand, walk somewhere, or attack.

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<v Speaker 1>And even though they look like tube socks filled with

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<v Speaker 1>modeling clay, a c cucumber's defense mechanism is pretty terrifying.

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<v Speaker 1>Imagine you're rough housing with a friend or sibling, or

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<v Speaker 1>maybe taking a martial arts class. I'm willing to bet

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<v Speaker 1>that your opponent's defense mechanism would not be to shoot

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<v Speaker 1>out some of his respiratory organs at you out of

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<v Speaker 1>his rear. But that's what sea cucumber combat looks like.

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<v Speaker 1>They have the amazing ability to regenerate the organs that

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<v Speaker 1>they lose this way. Some species spit out sticky string

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<v Speaker 1>like spiderwebs to trip uper and snare their enemies, while

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<v Speaker 1>others have a special toxin that kills or stun small

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<v Speaker 1>animals don't mess with c cucumbers, but we do mess

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<v Speaker 1>with C cucumbers all the time. Some species are at

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<v Speaker 1>risk of extinction because in some Asian countries, C cucumbers

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<v Speaker 1>are the ultimate luxury snack. Some tropical species can go

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<v Speaker 1>for between ten dollars and six hundred dollars per kilogram

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<v Speaker 1>dried in mainland China, and one type retails for three

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<v Speaker 1>thousand dollars per kilo. C cucumbers are also used in

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<v Speaker 1>Chinese medicine to treat a variety of ailments like muscle aging,

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<v Speaker 1>compromised immune system, fatigue, and arthritis. Some even suggest they

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<v Speaker 1>could be used in cancer treatments. The varieties that are

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<v Speaker 1>used in food or medicine are becoming increasingly rare due

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<v Speaker 1>to overfishing are over cucumbering. As a result. There are

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<v Speaker 1>around three hundred and seventy seven species of sea cucumbers

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<v Speaker 1>on the Red List of Threatened Species put out by

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<v Speaker 1>the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Seven of these

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<v Speaker 1>are classified as endangered and nine as vulnerable. But we

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<v Speaker 1>need sea cucumbers. Not only are they economically important as

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<v Speaker 1>a seafood, they are essential to ocean ecosystems. They are

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<v Speaker 1>important filtration systems for watery habitats all over the world.

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<v Speaker 1>In some places, in the deep ocean, vast herds of

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<v Speaker 1>c cucumbers roam the ocean floor, gobbling up to tritus

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<v Speaker 1>that drifted down from above. Plus some species provide vital

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<v Speaker 1>services for other marine life. The pearl fish, for instance,

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<v Speaker 1>takes refuge in a c cucumber's anus. Sometimes entire schools

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<v Speaker 1>of pearlfish can find shelter in the rear end of

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<v Speaker 1>a single sea cucumber. They usually don't mind much unless

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<v Speaker 1>they're trying to use their anus to breathe at the moment.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, sea cucumbers breathe through their anuses. I forgot

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<v Speaker 1>to mention that part. Today's episode is based on the

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<v Speaker 1>article c cucumber, animal or vegetable on how stuffworks dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Jesslynshields. Brain Stuff is production of by Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.